Samuel Coleridge Taylor and His Music in America, 1900–1912

To order a DVD copy of this film contact [email protected] My documentary from 2013 about the English classical music composer of Sierra-Leonean descent, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (1875–1912), was made during the centennial of SC-T's death in 2012, and includes a number of excellent premiere recordings of SC-T works (see pinned comment, below). Concentrating on Coleridge-Taylor and his visits to the United States in 1904, 1906 and 1910—and his influence on the founders of the African-American Civil Rights Movement and the NAACP—this documentary is a who's-who of SC-T scholarship, with commentary by historians who have spent their lives researching SC-T and his work. Additional first rate performances are contributed by Rachel Barton Pine, violinist, Rodrick Dixon, tenor, and a score of talented African-American singers and instrumentalists. Mini documentaries within give insight into the lives of Maud Powell and J. Rosamond Johnson. Of special interest is the performance of one of SC-T's last works, "Keep me from sinkin' down," for violin and orchestra, based on the African-American spiritual, prepared from the manuscript score, and filmed, June 4, 2012, on location in Norfolk, Connecticut, where, June 4, 1912, the American violinist Maud Powell first performed the work.